U.S. squad trounced by Germany in tuneup

Germany lowers the boom on U.S.After scoreless first half, hosts strike fast, often

CHRIS COWLES, For The Chronicle

Published
5:30 am CST, Thursday, March 23, 2006

DORTMUND, GERMANY - On a night where excuses could have been a dime a dozen, the U.S. national soccer team owned up to its shortcomings.

Since there was no way to veil the harsh lesson the Americans had had received, this was probably most sensible thing the Americans did on their tuneup trip to Germany.

Facing a German team that has been scorned for weeks by a relentless media and critical public, there was no doubt that anything short of a convincing victory by the World Cup hosts against a patchwork U.S. team was going to be accepted.

In that sense, everybody got what they wanted or, in the case of the outclassed Americans, deserved.

After playing a nearly full-strength German squad to a scoreless first half — an effort that had the home sellout crowd of 65,000 booing and whistling their team off the field at the break — the Americans wasted little time losing control, giving up a goal only 21 seconds into the second half and then three more scores in a six-minute span as they were trounced 4-1 Wednesday.

"We got beat, and we deserved to get beat," said U.S. coach Bruce Arena. "This was the USA playing tonight, it doesn't matter who we were missing."

Once the U.S. became unraveled, there appeared little chance to remedy the situation as a disorganized defense failed to get in synch with the midfield as coverage lacked, while the midfield could not support the attack.

"I don't think too many players played themselves onto a World Cup roster tonight," said Arena.

After kicking off in the second half, Steve Cherundolo, who was later credited with a fluke goal, committed a needless foul on German captain Michael Ballack, catching the midfielder near the left sideline after trying to control a poor back pass.

The U.S. kept its composure and nearly equalized, but German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn came up big in the 66th minute as a Convey free kick was headed by Eddie Johnson, forcing Kahn to palm the ball away.

After that, it was all Germany.

Oliver Neuville bent a wicked shot into the left corner in the 73rd minute. Klose scored two minutes later followed by Ballack's header in the 79th minute.

After witnessing the plethora of defensive breakdowns in front of him, Keller didn't mince his words.

"What this game proves is who can play at this level and who can't," he said. "(It) was a reality check for us. I don't think I can express how I feel in words you guys can print."